Recently, medical practitioners have found benefit in using robotic systems to perform surgical procedures. Such a robotic system typically includes a moveable arm. The arm has a free, distal end that can be positioned with a high degree of accuracy. A surgical tool is attachable to the distal end of the arm. The surgical tool includes an energy applicator that is applied to a surgical site for treating the surgical site.
In some robotic systems, a medical practitioner manually manipulates the surgical tool to cause movement of the energy applicator with respect to the surgical site. This manual manipulation includes freely re-orienting the surgical tool at the surgical site. The medical practitioner may wish to manually re-orient the surgical tool to avoid obstacles such as retractors or other tissues at the surgical site. In other robotic systems, however, the surgical tool moves autonomously and the medical practitioner is unable to re-orient the surgical tool at the surgical site.